The Heart of Christmas
by swaggyzebraTW
Summary: Shot #4 of my predicted 12. While trying out a new rune Clary made, Jace and Clary get transported to the North Pole. While walking amidst the winter wonderland, they find what appears to be Santa's village. Can their faith in Christmas magic be restored by a meeting with Santa and his special helpers? What about the Polar Express? Clace, Part of my Twelve Shots of Christmas.


**AN: PLEASE NOTE THIS IS A CONTINUATION OF MY PREVIOUS SHOT, WHICH ALTHOUGH NECESSARY TO REAL TO UNDERSTAND THIS, I RECOMMEND DOING SO TO LEAVE AS LITTLE CONFUSION AS POSSIBLE. Here is the (not really) awaited fourth shot of my predicted series of twelve, and I must say that I seriously owe a thanks to Trans Siberian Orchestra. I pretty much listened to "Dreams of Fireflies" and "Wizards in Winter" on repeat while writing this. If you have never listened to this Christmas group, I highly recommend it. Their instrumental pieces are phenomenal, and pretty much all I listen to this time of year. Anyway, thanks for reading, and look out for the next shot within three days! Also, title based on the song title by Matthew West, "The Heart of Christmas".  
**

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**The Mortal Instruments**_**, all rights go to Cassie Clare and her people.**

I was met with the overwhelming scent of urine and tobacco as we entered the alleyway in the back of Pandemonium, which made me cough. Jace apologized. "I'm sorry, it's not very sanitary, by any means, but no one else is out here. Where do you want to place the rune?"

I thought about it, though I quickly remembered that I knew nothing about this rune other than what it looks like. "Hmmm… I don't really know, so why don't I just put it on your wrist?"

"Sure." Jace said, holding out his wrist and placing the stele in my hand.

"Are you sure you want to do this? What if…"

He cut me off. "I'll be fine, Clary. Stop worrying about it."

I nodded, beginning to trace the intricate design along his forearm. It ended up looking like a creepy "J" with a curly line and a small "x" though it. I kept a hold of his wrist, watching for any signs of an immediate change. "How do you feel?" I asked worriedly.

"No different then I did five minutes ago. Are you sure you did the rune correctly…"

His words were cut off sharply by a large whooshing sound. "What's happening?" I shouted loudly over the offending noise.

"I don't know! Did you summon something?" He asked, looking around frantically.

"Of course not!" I said, hoping it was the truth.

Before another word could be spoken, Jace and I were sucked up by what felt like a tornado of death, which sent us spiraling into the air. We were both screaming, though it seemed as we were somehow disconnected front he earth, and no one could hear our hopeless cries. My hand was still clasped tightly around Jace's wrist, and I clung onto him as though my life depended on it.

Within seconds, my whole vision of the earth disappeared, and I was swallowed in a vision of darkness. I could still feel that I was moving, as my body felt as though it was a rag doll being town through the air. Fright consumed me, though before I could be positive that I was going to die, I hit the ground, hard.

My vision slowly came back, and I could see that I had landed on Jace. "Are you okay?"

He nodded. "I'm getting an odd sense of De Já Vu from that time when we were in that portal, though."

I laughed a little at that, scrambling off him so I could study where we were. I was cold, and there was snow everywhere. It looked as though Jace and I had entered a Winter Wonderland of sorts, and it seemed surreal. Wind blew snow against our cheeks, making them turn red within seconds. "Where are we?" I asked, dazed.

He shrugged. "It looks like we're in the North Pole to be honest. That rune must have been a portal."

"We're going to freeze to death!" I stated loudly, beginning to pace.

He offered me his jacket. "Merry Christmas Eve, Clary. It looks as though we're going to be spending it freezing our asses off in the North Pole."

"We should look for shelter." I recommended, beginning to walk in a random direction."

"We're not going to find any." He stated sadly. "We're in the middle of an ice desert."

"What should we do, then?" I asked. "Tomorrow's Christmas Eve, and no one knows where we are. Not to mention, they'll never guess that we're in the North Pole."

He pulled my phone out of my pocket. "Maybe you have reception."

I gave him skeptical glare. "You just said that we're in the middle of an ice desert. Why would we have reception?"

He stared at the screen for a few seconds before exclaiming, "I have a bar! There's reception!"

"Call Alec then!" I said, watching his dial and pull the phone up to his ear.

"**Hello?"** Alec asked into the receiver.

"Alec, you've gotta help us…" Jace began.

"**Where the hell are you guys? We've been looking for you, and we can't find you anywhere!"**

"We think we're in the North Pole. It's really cold, and there's snow everywhere!"

"**Jace."** Alec said. **"Are you drunk?"**

Jace's eyes widened indignantly. "Of course not! We're at the goddamn North Pole right now, and we need your help."

"**Jace, tell me where you and Clary are, and we'll come get you."**

"I just told you where we are, Alec! Clary tried out this new rune, and apparently it was a portal of sorts, and now we're stuck with Santa."

"**Wait. You're with Santa? Now I definitely know you're hammered out of your mind."**

"I was joking about Santa, dumb-ass. But seriously, put a track on our Clary's phone if you don't believe us."

"**You sound really convincing for a drunk boy. Now put Clary on the line."**

Jace handed me the phone with a brief explanation. "Alec doesn't believe me, and he wants to talk to you."

"Hello?" I said into the receiver.

"**Clary, are you drunk too?" **Alec asked irritably.

"No, I've never had a drop of alcohol in my life." I answered honestly. "I'm as sober as can be."

"**Okay, then. Jace is drunk out of his mind, you know. Anyway, where are you?"**

I rolled my eyes. "Jace just told you! We're in the North Pole."

"**Oh, by the Angel! What the hell is wrong with you guys? Whatever happened to just saying no to drugs and alcohol?"**

"Alec, please. We need to find a way out of here. It's freezing. Seriously, track our phones or something. We need to get out of here." I pleaded.

"**I'll call you guys in a few hours to see if you've settled down enough by then to at least tell me where you are. Bye, Clary. Don't let you or Jace do anything stupid, okay?"**

"Alec, wait!" I said loudly, only to be answered by the sound of disconnection. "Dammit!"

Jace came over. "Did he hang up on you? Clary, you never curse."

"Well, I've never been stuck in the Arctic with no one to pick us up." I stated sarcastically.

"I never knew you were capable of sarcasm and dry humor, Clary!" He joked, flashing a grin.

That statement earned yet another eye-roll. "Haha, very funny, Jace. Now seriously, what are we supposed to do?"

"You could make another one of those runes…" He recommended.

I shook my head vigorously. "No way. It was a mistake using that rune in the first place, and we still don't know what it does or how to use it."

"Come on, Clary. How much worse could it be than being stuck here?" Jace asked, his eyes pleading.

"I'm not doing it, Jace. We'll find a way out, all we have to do is search for it." I said, beginning to walk towards a random bank of snow.

"Where are you going?" He asked, jogging to catch up to me.

"I'm looking for civilization." I stated. "You should try it whenever you're in tedious situations such as this one."

He rolled his eyes. "It's not like we're going to just walk in on Santa and his elves, Clary. We're in the middle of nowhere. No one is here."

"Well, sitting here, dining nothing, waiting for someone who will never come, is utterly pointless at this point, Jace. We made a mistake, I made a mistake, and I'm going to try to fix it."

He grabbed my wrist, forcing me to look into his eyes. "Clary, don't blame yourself for this. I shouldn't have asked you to put that rune on, and I'm sorry if I pressured you, but I'm sure we'll make it out of here just fine."

I nodded. "I hope you're right, but I'm still going to try to find someone anyway."

Jace clasped my hand in his, and we began to walk through the frigid cold of what we could only presume was the Arctic. All we could see was florescent hills of white, for miles. We strided purposefully in a random direction which I could only hope was North, though I knew that neither me nor Jace had any real clue.

Time ticked by slowly, and I become colder with every passing hour of us seeing nothing but planes of white. My toes felt as though they were numb little blocks of ice, and Jace's cheeks were red from the wind. We had been walking for hours, and it was beginning to get dark. We only had about another hour of light left, at the max, and then the temperature would drop significantly, and we were both unprepared for that.

"We've been walking for hours, and we still haven't seen anything. It's going to get dark soon." I stated dully.

Jace looked as though he was about to agree, but then he pointed to the horizon. "Look over there!"

I followed his finger, spotting what looked like a village off in the distance. Lights were everywhere, and there seemed to be a lot of small houses. Blinking frantically, I tried to see if I was imagining its presence. It never disappeared no matter how I looked at it. "There's a village!" I exclaimed. "Jace, we're saved!"

He chuckled, picking up the pace a little. "I never thought that we, strong, super-sexy shadow-hunters would ever need saving."

"But then again, you never saw this coming." I finished for him, seeing that the village was now only half a mile or so away from us.

My fingers tingled at the mere thought of warmth and a fire, and being able to be safe from the cold and dark of night. My feet subconsciously picked up their pace, meeting Jace's also elongated strides.

As we neared the village, I quickly noticed that it was completely decked out for the holidays. The small town reminded me of how I had dreamed "Santa's Village" of looking, especially with all of the snow adorning every rooftop. Every color used was vibrant, and almost everything seemed to be hand made. Signs showed up, and when we were close enough to see what they read, I noticed that they made little sense for a normal mundane village in the middle of nowhere.

The first one stated, "_Toy Factory to the right,_" while the next said in cursive script, "_Pole of the North Cafe, to your left."_

I gave Jace a quizzical look. "Are these for real? They make it seem as though we're actually in Santa's village."

He shrugged. "Is Santa that fictitious old fat guy that mundanes believe to sneak down their chimneys and deliver presents during the middle of the night on Christmas Eve?"

"Yeah. All the kids love him, event though they'll eventually find out that "he" was just their parents all along."

Jace chuckled. "When did you stop believing?"

"I stopped when I was seven."

Neither of us noticed the short little man who had snuck up behind us until he broke into our conversation. "Why did you stop believing? And if you claim to no longer believe, why are you here?" He asked, almost scowling at us, adding on as an after-thought, "the Polar Express filled with nonbelievers isn't due for another few hours…"

"Who are you?" Jace asked, reaching for his only weapon, which happened to be the exact stele that put us in this mess in the first place.

The man made no move to disarm Jace, in fact, he simply ignored him, still looking at me. "You never answered my question, Clary Fray. Why did you stop believing?"

My eyes widened, and Jace gripped my waist protectively. "How do you know my name?"

"I'm Hanson, one of Santa's lead elves. I know every kid we deliver, or used to deliver to. That still leaves my question unanswered, along with the few others regarding why you are here."

Jace chuckled. "Maybe Alec was right. We are probably passed out drunk, dreaming of all this happening."

Hanson was still unamused, and still ignoring Jace. "So, are you planning on answering me any time soon? You see, it's Christmas Eve, and I am quite busy, as are everyone else up here, except you two apparently."

I answered hi honestly, seeing how he seemed adamant upon discovering the truth. "My mom had actually walked in to my room carrying all the presents from 'Santa' one year, waking me up and confirming any suspicions I had about his being real. As for why we're here, I used this rune that ended up portaling us here somehow, and we've been looking for a way back since."

Hanson nodded, looking skeptical. "There's no rune that does that in the book of shadow-hunting runes, though I suppose you probably used your special ability to create one, right?"

Jace cut in, angry, pushing me behind him as though he thought I needed to be protected by the four foot tall man ahead of us. "Who are you, and how the hell do you know so much about my girlfriend and the shadow world? Are you a pedophilic creepy warlock or something?"

Hanson rolled his eyes at Jace's rudeness, as most people do upon meeting him. "As I stated previously, my name is Hanson, and I am one of Santa's elves with enough knowledge clearance to know every boy and girl we deliver to, Jace Wayland. As for my knowledge of the shadow-world, it is simply because we also deliver to shadow-hunters. No, I am not a warlock."

"You never delivered to me." Stated Jace. "As you haven't to any other boy or girl, because 'Santa' and all this mundane folk-lore is a bunch of bologna."

I watched as Hanson closed his eyes and slowly shook his head. "That is where you are quite wrong, Jace. Despite Valentine's wishes otherwise, we still gave you gifts, although it came as much trouble for us. Do you remember those wooden swords you used to sleep with as a little kid?"

Jace nodded, and Hanson continued. "We gave you those, Jace, and Santa is real. Even though you don't deserve it, I could take you to meet him."

"That's not necessary." Jace said, sarcastically. "I don't need to see another one of those fake, mall Santas."

"Jace." I admonished. "Maybe we should just give all this a chance…"

"NO way! I rather leave this village, and freeze my balls off."

I looked to Hanson. "Jace doesn't mean that, he's just a little moody at times."

Hanson nodded in agreement. "That he is, though you were always a sweet little child, Clary. Always on the Nice list."

He looked to a watch on his wrist, which I noticed was hand-made, closely resembling the one the conductor wore from the Polar Express, as it marked his lateness. "Oh dingle! I am very late, and must be on my way. Clary, you can follow me if you wish, as long as you can get that boyfriend of yours to shut his trap momentarily."

I nodded, before looking to Jace and linking hands with him. "Come on, Jace."

He planted his feet, shaking his head. "No way, am I going with that man, and neither are you. Didn't Alec advise that we do nothing stupid?"

It was my turn to roll my eyes. "Alec also thought we were drunk out of our minds, and refused to help us. Now come on."

I kissed Jace on the lips, shutting him up and earning a chuckle from Hanson before we followed him through the footpaths of the village. A few more short people with pointy ears, who I presumed were elves, passed us on our way to what Hanson called the main square.

My eyes widened at the beauty of the square. It was actually circular, floored with cobblestones, and had what looked to be a bell tower stickling out from the middle of it. The tower was stone, with a large clock on each of its four faces, and had a countdown to Christmas, which stated that there were only four hours left. Boys and girls, all short and elf-like, crowded the square, roughing from place to place, entering some of the stores and buildings on the outskirts of the area. Dead in front of us, behind the magnificent tower, was a large building the size of a Walmart, that was labeled as "Santa's Workshop."

The giddy, childish side of me grew excited, as all of my childhood dreams appeared to be coming true. Could it even be possible that all of this was actually true, that Jace and I were not dreaming, and Santa and his helpers were all real, and lived in this magnificent place?

Jace rolled his eyes at my awe, though I could see he was also curious, and Hanson chuckled. "Come, children. The man you wish to see is just inside, although very busy."

"I don't wish to see him, you're practically drag gin me to him." Jace mumbled, though Hanson was back to ignoring him.

We followed Hanson throughout the front door, only to be amazed yet again by the wonder of the building. Toys and gift wrappings were everywhere, along with more elves. Everyone was busy, whether it was by carting toys out of the area, wrapping gifts, or building the gifts. Christmas music was ll that could be heard besides some simple tinkering and clanks, and I was wowed by the whole system.

Hanson broke me out of my reverie by pointing towards a staircase and a door at the back of the room. "He should be in there, making final preparations. I'll allow you two to walk in and see him, though I have to get back to work." He said, hastily checking his watch, which only confirmed his suspicions. "Tell him I sent you."

Before I could thank him, the man was gone, and Jace was speaking. "Do you really believe any of this?"

"I don't know, Jace. I want to, but it would go against everything I know. It's kinda like when you told me about the shadow-world. I didn't really believe you at first, although it was in fact, real."

I walked down towards the door, not even looking to see if Jace was behind me. Pulling open the door to where Hanson said Santa would be, I paused, almost nervous about what I would see. Looking around, it was soon made known that the room was an office, and sitting upon a desk at the back wall was none other than Mr. Claus.

He didn't look up from his work. "Hanson, what do you need? You do realize that we are all on a tight schedule…"

When neither Jace or I responded immediately, the man looked up, surprised. "Clary and Jace? What are you doing here?"

"Hanson sent us." I said hurriedly.

He nodded slowly, as though he was thinking it over. "Why? Surely the Polar Express isn't here yet…"

Jace cut in. "We got lost up here, and found your village. Your little elf man servant told us that all of the tales are true, and that you could take us back to out home on your way to delivering stuff."

"Ah, yes." The man replied, as though finally understanding. "I almost forgot that you two were unbelievers. Didn't that tutor tell you two that all of the stories are true?"

"Well, yes." Jace stuttered at the man's mentioning of Hodge. "But he never said anything about this."

"I do believe the tale of Christmas is indeed a story, Jace." Santa said. "And it is indeed real, as you both can see, but I think I could manage to take you two home tonight. How was it that you got here?"

It was my turn to answer. "Well, you see, sir, we were trying out this new rune…"

"One you invented?" He interjected.

I nodded. "One I made. Neither of us was sure what it did, and Jace really wanted to try it out, and when we made it, it brought us to the middle of the North pole, which we just assumed was a really cold part of the Arctic. When we wandered around for a few hours in search of help, we found this village, and met Hanson."

"It was fate." Santa said happily. "The rune brought you two here, and now you believe again. How wonderful!"

"Woah!" Jace said. "Neither of us ever said we believe any of this stuff."

"But to see is to believe, right?" Santa said, playing Jace.

"Whatever." Jace replied dismissively. "Can you just take us home?"

Santa checked a few lists and charts on his desk, before nodding. "That could be arranged. Come, the sleigh will be leaving soon, and you guys can ride with me back to New York."

"This guy is really creepy." Jace whispered to me. "Scratch that, this whole experience has been really creepy."

An elf poked his head through the door behind us. "Everything is loaded and accounted for, sir."

Santa nodded, smiling. "Thank-you, Carlistle. I'll be out there momentarily to address the children upon the Polar Express."

The boy left. "The sleigh is outside, follow me." Santa said, leading us out a door in the back.

Jace made a noise of annoyance. "Come on, dude. You can stop it with the whole, "Santa is real" thing. We're not buying it."

"That's unfortunate." Santa stated. "But I am sure you will both be true believers after I return you to the Institute."

We walked into a clearing, which I soon recognized as the main square. Unlike before, the whole place was packed with Elves, and I noticed a large Christmas tree which I hadn't seen earlier. There was a train there as well, along with some mundane children who were gathered around a large sleigh that was connected to nine reindeer, who I could only presume were named Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Vixen, and Rudolf. The front reindeer actually had a red nose, which was quite realistic looking, and I realized couldn't possibly be fake.

Children and elves began to cheer as we made our way the the sleigh. Santa paused, putting up a hand to silence them. When the place was quite enough, he began to speak with a clear, booming voice. "Hello, and welcome to the North Pole. I hope your journeys upon the Polar Express were tolerable, and that you had a good ride. Now, who would like to receive the first gift of Christmas?"

The children began to wave their hands madly, in response, which earned a chuckle front he large bearded man. "How about you?" Santa said, pointing to a girl with pigtails in pink pajamas.

She scampered up to his lap, and began to whisper in his ear. He nodded. "That can be done."

She giggled, thanking him, before making her way back to the other children. Santa began to speak once more. "The first gift of Christmas will be two tickets on the Polar Express next year, for her parents, whom she claims no longer believe in the magic of Christmas."

Jace and I made our way into the sleigh beside him, squeezing ourselves next to the large sack of toys.

Santa picked up the reins. "Merry Christmas to all, and to all have a good night!" He exclaimed, looking forward and slapping the leather in signal to the deer strapped in front of us. "On Dasher, on Dancer, on Prancer, on Vixen; on Comet, on Cupid, on Donner, on Blitzen! Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas!"

There was a large lurch, before the sleigh made its way into the air, traveling at great speed. I only had a second to look down at the square before it disappeared into whiteness. "I believe." I whispered, only loud bough for Santa to hear.

He chuckled. "As you should, Clary. As every child should."

"Should what?" Jace asked. "Wow, this thing goes faster than people say it does."

"Every child and person upon this Earth should believe in the magic of Christmas, as it keeps us innocent when nothing else does." Santa concluded, before driving us the rest of the way back to the Institute.

~Line Break~

Jace and I stood in front of the Institute for a moment, completely lost in what we had just witnessed. Within the past few hours, we had been brought to the North Pole, discovered that Santa actually is real, met him and his elves, and been driven home by him. Santa had just driven us, by sleigh, though the sky and back to our home. All of the tales of my childhood had just been proven true, contrary to common beliefs. It was still hard to comprehend, and if Jace hadn't been there with me the whole time, I would have thought it as a dream.

I looked at Jace, who was still staring blankly at a single spot in front of him. "That was so weird." He stated, turning to face me.

"Yeah." I agreed, grabbing his hand. "We should probably go inside, it is midnight you know."

He nodded, walking up the front steps. "Am I just dreaming, or did all of that actually happen?"

"That just happened, I think."

I opened the door as quietly as possible, trying not to wake any of the Lightwoods, who would probably be sleeping at this hour. Before we could enter and close the door behind us, I heard a distant train whistle. Looking to Jace, I could see that he had heard the same noise, and was also thinking the same thing as I.

_Since everything else seems to be true, could the Polar Express also exist?_

_**AN: The Polar Express? Could I possibly be foreshadowing something for an upcoming one-shot? Hmmm? You'll all see I guess. Before I go, don't forget to review, as it makes it a lot more probable that I will write all twelve shots BEFORE Christmas. If I don't finish them by Midnight on Christmas, I won't finish them this year. REMEMBER THAT. Also, according to the schedule I made, next update is in three days if I follow the schedule, and there will be both a shot on Christmas eve and Christmas. Other stories of mine will probably be on hiatus for the most part until after the holidays. Thank you.**_


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